ght he
was beneath my notice, and utterly insignificant. Sir, the gentleman
says he is reminded by my speech of the 'nursery rhyme,'

'Who shot Cock Robin?
"I," said the Sparrow,
"With my bow and arrow,
I shot Cock Robin."'

Well, sir, I am willing to be the sparrow for this cock robin, this
chivalrous gentleman; and let me tell the gentleman, if he will
not deem me vain, I feel fully able, with my bow and arrow, to run
through a 'cowpen full' of such cock robins as he is. In conclusion,
I have only to say, sir, to the gentleman from South Carolina, that
though my arm may be 'pigmy,' though I may be but a sparrow in the
estimation of one 'born insensible to fear,' I am able, sir,
anywhere, as a sparrow from North Carolina, to put down a dozen
such cock robins as he is. 'Come one, come all,' ye South Carolina
cock robins, if you dare; I am ready for you." Mr. Pickens wrote
a challenge, but friends interposed, and the difficulty was honorably
arranged.

When Mr. Webster became Secretary of State, under President Harrison,
his friends in Boston and New York raised a purse to enable him to
purchase the Swann House, facing Lafayette Square. Mr. Webster
preferred, however, to purchase land at Marshfield, and after he
had occupied the house during the negotiations of the Ashburton
Treaty, the property passed into the hands of Mr. W. W. Corcoran,
who has since resided there.

Mr. Webster was his own purveyor, and was a regular attendant at
the Marsh Market on market mornings. He almost invariably wore a
large, broad-brimmed, soft felt hat, with his favorite blue coat
and bright buttons, a buff cassimere waistcoat, and black trousers.
Going from stall to stall, followed by a servant bearing a large
basket in which purchases were carried home, he would joke with
the butchers, fish-mongers, and green-grocers with a grave drollery
of which his biographers, in their anxiety to deify him, have made
no mention. He always liked to have a friend of two at his dinner-
table, and in inviting them, _sans ceremonie_, he would say, in
his deep, cheery voice, "Come and dine with me to-morrow. I
purchased a noble saddle of Valley of Virginia mutton in market
last week, and I think you will enjoy it." Or, "I received some
fine cod-fish from Boston to-day, sir; will you dine with me at
five o'clock and taste them?" Or, "I found a famous possum in
market this morning, sir, and left orders with Monica, my cook, to
have